there’s not a lot that non-Apple users can do with them
Oh, there is.
I am a web developer and I use this to run Safari and the iOS simulator without paying Apple’s “debugging tax”.
Comment on 7 years later, Valve's Proton has been an incredible game-changer for Linux
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months agomacOS has been free for, like, 15 years.
lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
olympicyes@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That’s a limited time opportunity because x86 support is getting dropped with macOS 27.
railwhale@lemmy.nz 7 months ago
Unless they don’t provide ARM downloads or have some other problem, couldn’t you just use the ARM version, because part of what QEMU is is an emulator, to emulate other architectures?
lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
Well…looks like my employer will have to buy me a Macbook soon.
olympicyes@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I bought the cheapest MacBook Air for my wife. It’s pretty nice. Lightweight, sturdy, and such good battery life that she doesn’t keep track of her charger. Personally I have a physical KVM that I use to switch between my Linux workstation and my laptop.
Tortellinius@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Bruh what? Did you really just say that not having to buy software exclusive to a certain hardware makes the software free?
That’s like saying the OS on a PlayStation is free because you only had to pay for the PlayStation.
Nah man, you purchased the OS with the hardware. That’s why it’s exclusive.
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
No, I said your argument is ridiculous. So is this one you just made.
It’s not like either of those things.
macOS is free. Just because it requires a computer to run doesn’t mean it isn’t free. That’s the worst rationalization. I’ve heard yet.
AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
macOS is absolutely not free, and your argument is exactly the same as those examples the previous user provided.
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Prove it
olympicyes@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Floo just means that Apple used to charge for MacOS updates but they don’t anymore. They are old enough to remember the $129 upgrade fee. You’re also right because the hardware is obviously a license dongle that costs more than a retail copy of Windows. If you want MacOS, at least the $500 Mac mini and $800 MacBook Air are as good as anything you can buy at that price point. Kind of irrelevant but to this thread tho.
devolution@lemmy.world 7 months ago
[deleted]floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Exactly what nuance says there to blatant insults and ableism?
devolution@lemmy.world 7 months ago
[deleted]floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Right, because I’m to blame because no one can prove that macOS cost its money.
Being certain of a fact is not evidence of whatever bigoted thing you’re accusing me of.
androidisking@lemmy.world 7 months ago
This is a dumb argument. Apple does provide you the OS upgrades for free but getting an ISO file and installing it on a non-Mac computer is impossible so no it’s not really free
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Really? Did you pay for it? Because it’s free for me when I download it.
androidisking@lemmy.world 7 months ago
That’s not the point. You’re still going to have to pay money regardless if you want the operating system. Whereas windows and Linux allow you to use their ISOs is any laptop or computer so no buddy.
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Compatibility has nothing to do with how much something costs. The fact is, there’s no way to actually buy macOS. Because it doesn’t cost anything.
As I’ve said elsewhere, but your logic, every operating system cost money to run because you have to pay money for a compatible device to run it on.
You’re just drawing some imaginary line at Apple. That makes no sense.
atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Anybody can download Windows images too. That doesn’t mean the OS is free.
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
I never said it did
malwieder@feddit.org 7 months ago
macOS is included with every Mac, not free.
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Well, then show me a receipt where you paid for macOS. Should be interesting.
AndyMFK@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
when you buy a banana at the grocery store, show me the receipt that you paid for the shipping of said banana. When you buy a computer keyboard, show me the receipt for the ‘F’ key. When you buy a TV, show me the receipt for the capacitors.
This is not how receipts work.
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
You’re comparing apples and bananas. But the only thing that’s bananas is your argument
P1nkman@lemmy.world 7 months ago
So when someone buys [anything] with a screen, the OS on the screen if free?
I don’t have a receipt for the OS in my car, so it means I must’ve gotten it for free. Same with the seats, steering wheel, mirrors, buttons, doors, you bang it! But what did I actually pay for then?
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
I never said that. But it does show how this black-and-white all the nothing approach makes no sense.
macOS is free because it’s free.
Dremor@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I can show you many receipts where I bought a Windows laptop without a trace of any Windows licence on it.
Same, you can’t really install macOS on anything else than a Mac.
Sure you can do a Hackintosh, or run Windows without a proper licence (you can buy a Windows for like… $2 on the grey market). But you won’t have any support…
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
What does any of that have to do with the fact that macOS is free?
Zorque@lemmy.world 7 months ago
As they need to be installed on Apple hardware, there’s an implicit cost associated with it.
If you want to be super pedantic for no reason, you’re correct, it is technically free.
AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 7 months ago
So is windows for most users. I technically have so many windows licences that I don’t use because the system has long ago been wiped…
There used to be a big movement to get windows refunded if you didn’t use it. I think you could get 20 euros if you managed to jump through all the hoops. And I’m not even sure it’s still possible.Tortellinius@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Technically not. MacOS wouldn’t be what it is today if apple didn’t get any money out of it. They get that money from selling the hardware the software is exclusively on among other things. Let’s say i. e. Ubuntu: When it first got released then it relied on its owners personal revenue for a long time. None of the hardware sold financed Ubuntu, because Ubuntu didn’t earn money through hardware. It’s obvious that the money earned by apple through its sales also go back into macOS, because if the hardware didn’t make any money, macOS ceases to be developed as well.
With OPs logic, every software is technically free.
bitjunkie@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Is hackintosh not still a thing? Did they neuter it somehow? Or are we just not considering that since it’s a pain in the ass to set up and works out of the box on a very limited selection of hardware?
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
I don’t understand this argument. It makes no sense. Just because a piece of software is included for free with an Apple computer doesn’t mean you’re paying for it. It’s like you see the word “free” and just decide it means something different than what it really means.
ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 7 months ago
Hackintosh is a thing (or at least used to be), but it’s against the EULA.
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Yeah, the big reason to do that was so you could attach an EGPU which wasn’t supported natively. Now it is, though, so the need for that mostly disappeared. Plus, macOS is now so reliant on proprietary interval hardware like the T2 chip, then I won’t run on anything, but Apple hardware.
Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 7 months ago
eGPUs? I ran a Hackintosh because Apple didn’t sell hardware in the configuration I wanted. Less to do with GPUs and more to do with the lack of hard drive slots or PCIe slots. I had a nice workflow with some pieces of shareware that slowly lost support with each major OS update and every major update also came with less customizing for Finder. By the time they switched to their own ARM chips, I was ready to drop it. Apple’s idea of game support was just mobile shit anyway. They should have become partnered with Valve on Proton.
paraphrand@lemmy.world 7 months ago
The big reason to make a hackintosh was to use eGPUs?
eGPUs were not supported natively? And now they are?
What timeline are you talking about here? Is it all back 10-6 years ago?
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
Maybe, because I haven’t looked into it in a few years.
KillerWhale@orcas.enjoying.yachts 7 months ago
Macos is free. At the cost of paying *2 for hardware
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
You have to pay for hardware to rent any operating system.
iopq@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I don’t have to solder my ssd to the system to use it
floo@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
So what?
That doesn’t change the fact that macOS is free.